Wei Zhao and Bing Wushuang still had no idea what the Snake Head truly meant, but Ling Tianyou had resolved to pay a steep price for it. Had he not been constantly provoked by freaks like Wei Zhao and Bing Wushuang of late, he would never have taken such a risk. But now he felt immense pressure. If he did not push himself brutally hard, then never mind Wei Zhao—even Bing Wushuang and Xue Jianming would leave him forever in the dust. As a top-tier prodigy of the Thousand Blades Flying Together, his pride made it impossible for him to resign himself to falling behind.

"Pushing the limits?" Wei Zhao gave Ling Tianyou a deep look. Though he still did not know the specifics, he could read the general picture in the other man's eyes. He said at once, "Understood. But that does not conflict with going down there with us. Even if you mean to push your limits, you can do that after you come back up. If we really do find the Spirit-Consciousness Fruit, the three of us split it evenly. If there is not enough, I will make up the difference with spirit jade."

"I appreciate Brother Lin's kindness, but my mind is made up. There is no need for further persuasion. Until we meet again." With that, Ling Tianyou cupped his hands to Wei Zhao and Bing Wushuang, turned, and departed.

Watching Ling Tianyou's retreating figure, Bing Wushuang suddenly remarked, "Looks like that thing got prodded hard."

"Extraordinary talent, tenacious will, and though his manner is hardly smooth, it is still commendable. Barring accidents, this one will surely achieve great things in time." Wei Zhao spoke thoughtfully. He rarely judged others, so such an appraisal was exceedingly high. Bing Wushuang too had boundless potential, but taking the long view, Wei Zhao truly found it hard to say whether Bing Wushuang would be able to keep his head above Ling Tianyou's in the years to come.

Of course, on the other hand, Bing Wushuang now followed Wei Zhao, and the cultivation resources at his disposal were beyond anything Ling Tianyou could dream of matching. If that gap could not be closed, the disparity in strength between them would only widen.

The two wasted no more words. They leaped into the sea and dove down into the underground cavern.

Just as Ling Tianyou had said, less than half a li past the entrance, the space suddenly opened up. After climbing ashore, there was still nearly ten zhang of clearance to the cavern roof, and the surroundings were quite vast.

Most remarkable of all, the place was not what they had imagined. It was not wholly pitch-black; instead, a soft green luminescence glowed everywhere, making it feel like some hidden paradise out of a fairy tale, intoxicating to the senses.

"This light..." Bing Wushuang could not help frowning. The soft green glow around them was beautiful to behold, but it gave him an odd sense of danger. Past experience had taught him that the more beautiful and inexplicable a thing was, the more dangerous it tended to be.

"Looks like this place gets submerged regularly. If I am not mistaken, every high tide floods it completely. We do not have much time." Wei Zhao swept his gaze around as he spoke.

Bing Wushuang glanced at him, his blank face spelling out four words: I have no idea.

"You see the things that glow? They are some kind of tiny plankton that live in seawater. Their bodies give off a green fluorescence. Look—they are everywhere on the ground here, and even covering the cavern roof above. If this place were not regularly flooded, they would not stay here for no reason—and they are all still alive, no less." Wei Zhao explained.

"Mm." Bing Wushuang nodded, secretly marveling, and came away with a wholly new understanding of Wei Zhao's perceptiveness. The experts he had met before were all far inferior to Wei Zhao in true strength, and when trouble came they simply charged straight ahead, letting their fists settle everything. Someone like Wei Zhao, who paid attention to details, was exceedingly rare.

"This place does not look too big. We should be able to sweep most of it before nightfall outside, and get out just before the tide comes in. Let us split up and make good time." Wei Zhao decided to divide their forces. Bing Wushuang was not like his other underlings, after all; with strength at the peak of the early Nascent Soul stage, he could move freely anywhere in the Tai Gu Small Jianghu. There was no need for him to stay at Wei Zhao's side.

As for the Spirit-Consciousness Fruit, Wei Zhao believed that if Bing Wushuang truly found something, he would never keep it for himself—not out of pure faith in the man's character, but in his brains.

The foolish act of secretly pocketing a Spirit-Consciousness Fruit—Xue Jianming would certainly do it. Bing Wushuang absolutely would not, because he was a smart man.

"Fine." Bing Wushuang hesitated not at all. He immediately picked a direction and began searching his way along it, while Wei Zhao chose the opposite direction. Relying on his perception far beyond ordinary men, he moved at tremendous speed, so that at a glance he was little more than a streaking afterimage. This underground cavern was neither large nor truly small; if one did not move quickly, there would be no finishing the search before the tide.

Within the underground cavern, apart from the green-glowing plankton, the most common sight was seaweed. Other than that, there was scarcely any vegetation to be seen, still less any large plants, so at a glance the place seemed to stretch out entirely bare. That did not mean, however, that finding the Spirit-Consciousness Fruit would be easy.

From Ling Tianyou's description, Wei Zhao already knew what the Spirit-Consciousness Fruit looked like, but he did not know whether it grew on trees or simply on the ground. Here, fruit on trees would be easy to spot; if it grew on the ground and was covered by seaweed, that would be troublesome.

Before coming, Wei Zhao had largely agreed with Ling Tianyou's judgment that the legendary Spirit-Consciousness Fruit very likely grew within this cavern. Now, however, he had his doubts. If his reasoning was right, this cavern was clearly flooded by seawater on a regular basis—could the Spirit-Consciousness Fruit really grow in seawater?

In the minds of the vast majority, Wei Zhao included, treasures of heaven and earth like the Spirit-Consciousness Fruit invariably grew in primeval places rich in spiritual energy. As for growing in seawater, the possibility was vanishingly small. Seawater and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth were hardly compatible; once a place was submerged in seawater year-round, its spiritual conditions were little different from those of the mundane world. What treasure of heaven and earth could grow in such an environment?

Still, doubts aside, those who had actually seen the Spirit-Consciousness Fruit were very few indeed. Perhaps the Spirit-Consciousness Fruit was simply that eccentric!

After searching in one direction for a while, Wei Zhao suddenly stopped midway. It was not that he had found the Spirit-Consciousness Fruit—rather, his spiritual sense had abruptly picked up people not far ahead, and more than one.

How strange! According to Ling Tianyou, he and his master had discovered this place purely by chance, and it was indeed a hidden spot. Under normal circumstances, even someone who came to the cliff would hardly notice it, unless they too were being hunted by a spirit beast as Ling Tianyou and his master had been. Otherwise, who would be so idle as to jump down and grope about for fish, only to stumble upon this underground cavern? (To be continued.)